Canada’s economy added 25,000 new jobs in November, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
Despite the slight increase in jobs, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 5.8 percent as more people were looking for work. Canada’s unemployment rate has risen 0.8 percentage points since April, even as the economy added new jobs.
Employment increases in November were slightly above economists’ expectations.
The job gains were mostly full-time positions, as the economy added nearly 60,000 such positions during the month. However, this increase was slightly offset by the loss of more than 34,000 part-time jobs.
By sector, 28,000 jobs were created in manufacturing and 16,000 in construction. On the other hand, 27,000 jobs were lost in wholesale and retail, while 18,000 jobs were lost in finance, insurance, real estate and rental and leasing.
Royce Mendes, an economist at Desjardins, called the increase in jobs “moderate,” especially considering some underlying factors.
“As the population… grew by 78,000 and the labor force increased by 36,000, the demand for labor could not keep up with the labor supply,” he said.
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